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Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, has urged Formula One’s rulers to risk the wrath of Ferrari and Mercedes by rubber-stamping their “ambitious” blueprint for the sport following Friday’s summit in Bahrain.

Liberty Media, the American conglomerate which is now in its second year at the helm of F1, has tabled a $150 million [£106 million] cost cap, a cheaper, simpler engine, and redistribution of the prize pot to enable greater competition, as it presented its post-2020 vision in an hour-long summit led by chairman Chase Carey and technical boss Ross Brawn.

The verdict among the majority of teams was one of optimism, with Claire Williams saying that Liberty’s proposed new dawn could safeguard the very future of the British outfit that bears her name.

But the same cheer was not shared by the sport’s big-spending two: Mercedes and Ferrari. Even before Friday’s presentation, both had already been vocal on their disdain over elements of Liberty’s plans, with the latter having threatened to quit F1.

Under Liberty’s proposal, Ferrari will keep their heritage payment – a one-off annual fee paid to the famous Italian team for being the only constructor to have contested every single F1 season – but their financial award could be significantly reduced. Indeed the number in the paddock was reported to be nearer to $50 million last night than the $100 million they currently pocket every year.

Mercedes, winners of the last four driver and team championships, will also be unsettled by proposed cost-cutting measures. Their success has been bankrolled by a budget of £300 million, with only Ferrari spending marginally more.

Both are bound to F1 until the expiration of the Concorde Agreement in 2020, but whether they stay beyond the next three years could be determined in a series of individual meetings which Liberty plans to hold with all of the 10 teams.

For now, Horner, who has seen Red Bull starved of glory since the sport’s last engine overhaul in 2014, believes Liberty must deliver on their proposal.

“It needs to be done within the next couple of months,” Horner said. “It is ambitious but they have got to go for it. The bottom line of their vision is going to have a much bigger effect on three or four teams running at the front of the grid.

“The guys from fourth downwards are potentially going to get a lot of upside, so you should see some fairly happy faces down that end of the paddock.”

Among those smiling on Friday was Williams. The British team, founded by her father Sir Frank Williams, have struggled to compete in recent campaigns. Indeed, Jacques Villeneuve won the last of their seven drivers’ championships more than two decades ago.

The Oxfordshire outfit work to a budget of around £100 million – among the lowest on the grid – so it was no surprise that Williams lauded Liberty’s plan as a victory for the sport’s independent teams.

“I came back from the meeting thinking let’s crack open some champagne,” she said. “If we can get these new regulations through, and if Liberty and Formula One Management do everything they say they are going to do, then I know that Williams’ future is safe.

“With the way the sport is currently structured and with the financial disparity between teams, the likelihood of Williams’ survival into the medium and long-term was looking pretty bleak. I want our team to be competing and hopefully winning in this sport for the next two, three, or four decades.”

Away from the off-circuit politics, Lewis Hamilton will be keen to get his championship charge back on track after a timing error by his Mercedes team during a virtual safety car period gift-wrapped victory to Sebastian Vettel in Australia a fortnight ago.

Reflecting on the curtain-raiser in Melbourne, Hamilton, 33, said: “Everyone in the team felt the same pain and we all sat together at the airport lounge after the race and had a drink. We come here strong and positive and with the right direction as how to move forwards. We are still there in the fight.”